Yaks prototype build - the Polikarpov i-185

[yak face]

Heres my ushanka thrown into the ring for this GB , the Eastern Express 1/72 Polikarpov i-185 fighter. This is an interesting aircraft that was very promising but through a combination of factors and possibly politics only ever reached the prototype stage . Several engines were fitted for testing , the kit represents the M71 engined version , trouble with reliability of this unproven engine being one of the factors in its failure to reach production.


The kit is by Eastern Express and is one of their own (more usually their products are reboxed Frog etc.) and is nicely moulded but obviously a bit basic in the cockpit so a little extra detail may have to be added. Heres the box top , I'll post the sprue shots when i start it , cheers tony[ATTACH]113172.IPB[/ATTACH]

[flyjoe180]

Nice one Tony, will watch with interest. It looks like a MiG-3 mated with an La-5.

[Guest]

Very nice one, and really interesting.

[papa 695]

Very nice Tony

[yak face]

As promised heres the sprue shots . The kit has very finely rendered raised panel lines which I'll be leaving as is , my concerns being the very basic (just a L shaped seat and an instrument panel !!) cockpit , this needing a bit of tarting up as its quite visible under the fairly large canopy . The instructions are laughably poor being just an exploded diagram of the parts and a black and white profile for the painting guide . The best bet is to use the colour profile on the box side . Luckily Ive got the excellent Red Star book on polikarpovs i-16 series and the last chapter covers the prototype polikarpovs - so ive got some decent reference info. cheers tony[ATTACH]113500.IPB[/ATTACH]

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[papa 695]

Love the instructions Tony no problem there for you mate

[flyjoe180]

Nice, got your work cut out

[yak face]

Wow , has it been nearly four months since I did anything to this -OOPS , i really must try harder!! Anyways ive picked it up again and got the cockpit done and fuselage together. The pit obviously wasnt very detailed so spares box seat ,side consoles ,pedals , control stick and belts have been added , the only kit parts I used were the floor and instrument panel! A plastic card shelf has also been fitted behind the seat to fill the glaring opening that was there before. Next is the strange five part wing arrangement ( centre section , two top outers and two bottom outers , each overlapping the other!) as with most parts on these old eastern express kits the trick is to dry fit ,then fettle a bit ,dry fit again , fettle some more etc. eventually a reasonable fit should be obtained without resorting to dollops of filler, which would ruin the scant surface detail . hopefully it wont be another three months til the next update (even so I think I'm going to miss the build deadline as usual!) cheers tony

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[flyjoe180]

Good start Tony.

[papa 695]

It didn't take that long to read the instructions did it Tony ?


Nice start by the way

[yak face]

It didn't take that long to read the instructions did it Tony ?
Nice start by the way

Yes i had to learn russian before i could read them, lol

[yak face]

Well apologies everyone , Ive been so busy with other things this one has only just got finished! Unfortunately the build log suffered a bit too ,there not being much in the way of one!! anyways its done now , youll just have to take my word that it was a bit of a dog and needed quite a bit of patience and filler! There arent any panel lines on the fuselage as this was made from moulded birch plywood and very smooth , the wings being metal and having a few raised lines so i tried to pre and post shade to give the paintwork a bit of interest (not sure if it shows too well in the pics though).heres the pics , comments criticisms welcome , cheers tony

[papa 695]

A great little build Tony there's no sign of any trouble just shows what a good job you've done

[flyjoe180]

That'[s a real gem Tony. Looks like MiG-3 blended with a LaGG

[Gern]

If it's a dog of a kit, it would be a winner at Cruft's Tony!